Mag1c Boi
by Garcka
Summary: He was a Wizard. She was a Cop. What more can I say? Dresden/Murphy
1. Chapter 1

Mag1c Boi – Chapter 1

**Characters:** Murphy, Dresden  
**Summary:** He was a Wizard. She was a Cop. What more can I say?  
**Author's notes:** Based on the song "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne. Has a TV verse Murphy but everything else is Book verse.

* * *

It was one of those slow days at the precinct which would unfairly force a certain sergeants mind to wander when she should be waiting for the inevitable moment when just another crime would be committed in this suicidal city and everyone would look to her to try and deal with it.

Drifting off into the natural world of dream scape was a perfectly average thing to do as part of the mental life cycle of the working force, but it was probably worse when you worked at emergency services. The first step was feeling utter boredom during moments when you should be happy that humanity wasn't trying to kill each other. At least, not trying to kill each other in your city. The next step though, which could occur anywhere between five minutes and half-an-hour later, was an unquestionably large guilt that you had just been looking forward to a distressed civilian calling you for immediate help with a life-threatening problem. After that, you would usually pay attention for the rest of the day.

At this precise moment in time, Lt. Connie Murphy was at step one and couldn't be happier. She was leaning as far back as in her new office chair as possible and relishing the oiled springs and unworn fabric, before it would be "quickly borrowed" by one of her cohorts under the false pretences of an emergency and passed around each office until making it back to her a year later with a torn seat and a suspicious stain. Her partner Kirmani was glaring at the chair from the cubicle opposite her and that somehow made the satisfaction of having comfortable furniture that much sweeter.

The reason why there was very little to do today in the way of cases, aside from the occasional robbery that you would grow to expect in a large city such as Chicago, was that once again, Harry Dresden had walked into the scene (he had been invited but that was hardly the point), did some crazy tricks allied with awkward question dodging and walked off again leaving a happy pair of quintuplets with their parents and an insane cult residing in the cells. The cult hadn't been arrested. They had somehow appeared in the cell joined in a scattered circle and very confused looks on their faces.

_Dresden insisted he should be paid for that one, but I reminded him that he'll need to prove he somehow teleported the group there before I can justify rewarding him for it. For a split second, he actually contemplated explaining things to me, but he quickly shrugged his shoulders with feigned acknowledgement and slouched off to his car._

It was troublesome to Murphy to think that her friend was hiding things from her, but she had a strong suspicion that whatever form of honesty came out of his mouth would most likely make her question his sanity even more. Seriously, you only needed to meet Dresden for a day and you would think he was a weird soft. Murphy still remembers the day when she first met him and he hasn't changed his way of life much since. He normally wears a selection of dark clothing, which on its own would make him seem a bit gloomy, but that's not enough. He has to add a thick leather duster that he will wear in any sort of weather, most specifically hot and adorn it with illegible writing and symbols

Murphy grinned, no longer paying attention to the sounds of the office. The weirdest thing about his appearance was the giant stick he carried with him, which she supposes does help to fill out the recommendations for a wizard's outfit, but will cause many people to question whether he is dangerous or not. Just thinking about a man walking up to you with a giant stick does bring some violent imagery, but in this day and age, it just isn't seen enough for a person to fear it. The first time Dresden walked into her precinct, most of the officers thought he was a gardener and promptly ignored him. Now that they all know he thinks he's a wizard, Murphy has to hide her head in shame when he comes in and makes a straight beeline for her desk, passing through the glares and muffled laughter of the rest of the office.

She frowned in her mental playground. It would just be so much easier if he didn't get results. If he made no contribution to the process of crime solving what-so-ever, she could fire him and get back to what she considered "a normal working life".

_Dam his detective abilities._

She did have to admit though that having someone like Dresden in your life promised very interesting days. Though he was a compulsive liar and probably a con-man, he radiated an aura of trust from himself that promised fun-filled conversations and happy moments to remember. You still wouldn't believe he was actually a wizard, but you might let him water your plants now and then. That that Murphy would ever allow him to get close to her home. He was a good friend and made her laugh on many occasions, but Murphy strived to keep her personal life and work life separate. It was hard enough on her daughter Anna that she had to work ungodly hours of the week, so she wasn't about to start bringing possible suitors to meet Anna with the vague hope that Murphy could trust them not to abandon her after a short fling.

Murphy's eyes bolted open and stared at the crumbling paint on the ceiling.

_Since when was Harry going to be a possible suitor?_

It wasn't unreasonable to contemplate a possible relationship with Harry. He was good looking in that weird sort of way and his sense of justice and protecting the weak was rivalled only by that of Murphy's. He was clear enough to her and the rest of the station that he sorta-maybe liked her. His chauvinistic attitude seemed entirely focused on her and on several occasions, she had spotted him looking at her when he thought her back was turned. Kirmani had once hinted at the possibility of a pool going around regarding when he was going to ask her out and whether he would cry or not when she turned him down. After a sharp glare from Murphy, he shut his mouth and didn't bring it up again. It was a cruel bet, but there was no way she could start a relationship with harry. For one, it was entirely unethical for an employee to date his boss. Not only was it frowned upon, but it could interfere with the weekly investigations that they worked together during and any disagreements they had while on the case, would be brought over into their personal lives and trying to keep it separate would become an issue.

Another problem would be how the rest of her office viewed the couple. Murphy had several good friends who respected her, but almost all of them couldn't stand Harry. To them, he was a lying con-man who only did his job for the money. As a rule, most officers hated detectives as they did almost exactly the same jobs and got none of the political barricades. The fact Harry claimed to be a wizard, only served to alleviate the problem.

Murphy closed her eyes again and allowed herself a moment of weakness. While they lasted though, the going would probably be good. Harry was a very dedicated man, who shared her sense of putting the bad guys away when they were guilty, rather than only when they could prove they were guilty. It seemed almost storybook the idea of the couple patrolling the streets of Chicago for the safety of the city and its citizens, solving crimes and rescuing crying children.

Leaning forward in her chair and staring at the blank computer screen, Murphy scowled. She had been thinking too much and it was time to get back to reality. Noticing the time on the white-washed clock above Kirmani's head, she decided to call it a day and grabbed her stuff. She rolled a piece of paper into a ball and chucked it into a dozing Kirmani's forehead. As it bounced off, he abruptly woke up "Wazzit?!"

"Sid, I'm going home for the day. Make sure you finish those reports on the cult before you go too."

Still in his sleep induced state, Kirmani just agreed with what ever she said with wavering nods. "Sure sure. See you tomorrow Lt."

She waved her hand as she turned around and strolled down the corridor and as she turned the corner, she just had enough time to see two officers make a made dash for her cubicle in an attempt to get to her chair before the other one did.

* * *

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Connie Murphy was in the kitchen making a sandwich. Bread products and appropriate fillings lay out in front of her on the counter as she finished applying the butter and was now deciding what would go into the middle. In the relatively large cottage she and her ten year old daughter lived in, they were granted with a relatively large kitchen that Connie had decided to furnish with a modern style. Surrounded the white wooden cupboards and cabinets were networks of stainless steel and distorted glass that give the kitchen a high class shine when light would shine in through the patio windows behind her. Or it would if the weather had decided to allow the Chicago sun into the air rather than deem it fit to coat the sky in an overcast grey cloud, that always seemed to threaten rain but never deliver.

After much careful deliberation, Connie came to a sound conclusion and carefully laid two thin pieces of ham on the bread and coated it slightly with a sprinkling of grated cheese. Connie had originally planned to wait for Anna to get home from school before preparing herself a snack, but the school bus was being late today and this was one of the few days where Connie had a day off. The utter boredom of not having anyone to arrest was grating her nerves. Only the sounds of her rumbling belly were able to get past her complaining mind and she firmly decided to put as much thought into the sandwich making process as possible, lest she finally lose it and walk out into the street to look for delinquents to scold.

Armed with fresh sandwich and cold bear, She worked worked her way into the beige coloured living room and sat down into the large sofa, while laying out her post-lunch meal on the coffee table in front of her. Connie scattered the magazines that had accumulated on the table in search of the TV remote and cursed the many subscriptions that she and Anna had subscribed to. Thankfully for her sanity, Anna hadn't yet broken into the age of make-up and clothes shopping and was gladly settled into comic books right now.

Finally grasping the remote, Connie gave a silent battle cry to the magazine gods and switched the TV onto the new while taking a bite out of her sandwich.

_Tasty._

Leaning back against the armrest, she absently chewed on the bread as the latest news on Chicago filled the screen and a rather too attractive news reporter looked up into the camera.

"_Welcome to News24. There has been confusion on the streets of Chicago today as cars heading into the city centre have been deadlocked for miles with no signs of alleviation..."_

Leaning forward, Murphy grasped onto her bear and nestled back into the sofa.

"_The traffic was originally caused after a school bus tipped over and blocked the entire road. No reports have been issued yet on what happened..."_

Connie paused just as she opened the can and began to feel a sense of dread coming up through her.

"_...but it has been ten minutes since the accident and police forces are being deployed around the area in order to seal it off from the public. There has been no word yet on why security has been needed for a traffic accident."_

Connie dropped the can onto the floor and the liquid poured from it and seeped into the carpet. In a single, fluid jump, she vaulted over the side of the coach and grabbed her phone and police jacket, with her gun already loaded in its holster. She was already half-way out the door when she speed dialled Kirmani's number and quickly walked over to her car. She had already opened the door and sat in the seat when Kirmani picked up and a flood of sounds shot through the earpiece.

She clearly heard him say "Kirmani here!" as he shouted through his end, but it was over laced with a stream of gunshots in the background and what sounded like gale force winds around him. He was on duty today, so he must have been called in with the rest of the force.

"Kirmani, it's Murphy. Are you by the school bus? What's going on down there?" She had to shout it a couple of times but he eventually understood the message and quickly replied.

"It's raining hell here Murphy. Dresden's here and he's kicking up a storm. The bus is all right but we're having a little trouble understanding what's going on right now."

"What's going on Kirmani?"

"BRING INSECTICIDE!" he yelled into the earpiece and quickly pulled away from the phone in order to speak to some else. "I gotta go Murphy, get here quickly," and he hung up.

Connie stared at the phone dumbfounded for a few seconds before dumping it into the seat next to her and pulling out of her driveway. She swears to God that Dresden going to get his ass kicked if it turns out he overturned Anna's bus.

* * *

She had to pass a few police checkpoints and flash her badge to each of them before Connie got to the scene of the accident. She could see the bus a short distance away on its side, but the path to it was blocked by a lane of police cars. Officers were running to and fro the barricade while other were leaning against the cars with their guns drawn and aiming in front of them. A few were scurrying around on the top of the bus and pulling kids out, before passing them to the waiting police below. Connie carefully manoeuvred around the cars already there and pulled up just in front of the barricade.

Just as she went to open the door to get out, there was a yell of warning from atop the bus and overlapped with a loud screeching sound from in front of her that immediately gave her goosebumps. She looked to the caller for guidance, but a shape blurred in front of her and she focused back to the barricade. She could see nothing out of the ordinary, but eventually noticed a large shadow begin to from on her windscreen. Connie quickly pulled herself forward in her seat to get a higher angle and she quickly wished she hadn't. She couldn't be a hundred percent sure what she saw, but at first guesses, it appeared to be a giant spider leaping towards her car.

Spread out in a wide circle, eight, pincer-like legs extended from a single body that must have stretched at least five feet in diameter. Fur covered the legs, but its underside was covered in a leathery looking armour. It was a mostly dark brown colour with faint stripes of gold in the matted hair. With little grace and even less poise, it landed spread eagled on the hook of her car, causing Connie to jolt out of her seat and into the back rest. Quickly righting itself with two legs pressed against her windscreen, eight black eyes studied its tinned meal and decided to get at it by bashing its head against the glass.

Connie knew she should reach for her gun, but she was frozen in her seat and her knuckles had turned white from gripping the steering wheel to hard. Thin cracks began to form on the glass as the spider furiously tried to break in, fangs extending from its mouth as the cracks got larger and larger. Connie didn't know how you were meant to deal with giant spiders.

"FORZARE!" The words shot across the ground and snapped Connie out of her daze. The spider also turned to look for the new intruder and Connie watched as a column of mist formed through the air and slammed into the side of creature. The blow was large enough to completely explode the spider as limbs and blood suddenly separated from its host and covered Connie's windscreen in a dark red mess.

Now the moment of fear was gone, Connie quickly pulled her pistol out of its holster and leapt out of the car, all the while scanning for more arachnids. Her eyes settled in the figure standing atop the bus and she once again stood shocked at the appearance. Standing above her in a brace position, Harry had his long staff extended towards the hood of her car and his thick duster fluttered around him in the wake of a powerful wind. His eyes impartially scanned her body for injuries and she felt her cheeks blush a little as his eyes lingered over her and she tightened her police jacket around her.

Noticing her discomfort, he grinned and waved at her before turning to the two other figures atop the bus. "Michael! You stand behind us and help pull the kids out. We'll have to cover you so you'll have to lower them down on your own."

The one he referred to as Michael, looked like the dashing knight from the fairytale's. Across his body, he wore a full set of chain mail with a large grey cloak that didn't seem to weigh him down one bit. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a long mane of dark hair that he had tied behind his head in a small ponytail. In his hand was a massive longsword that was giving of its own, unnatural glow. Michael casually held it by his side that could only have been accomplished from years of experience. He nodded once to Harry and knelt down in front of the open window of the bus and reached in to help lift others out.

From behind them both, another spider suddenly leapt out from behind the bus towards Harry's turned back. Connie's heart stopped in her throat, but before she could call for help, the third man in Harry's company suddenly leapt into the air from a standing jump and cut straight through the underbelly of the spider with a long, thin rapier. Black guts spilled from the wound and the creature give a dying cry of protest before its body landed on the bus only a few inches from Harry. Only pausing for a second at the sight of the now dead enemy, Harry turned towards the other man and smiled, "Thank you Thomas. Now we're going to cover Michael while he gets the kids out," after a pause, he then added "and we want to go for efficiency rather than theatrics. Try no to show off." they smiled at each other and walked to the side of the bus to look at what ever all the other cops seemed to be staring at.

Thomas was the shorter of the three, but still coming close to Harry's height. Around his body, he wore exquisite clothing that had been dyed in dark red and blues. Though he hardly seemed to be sweating from the high jump, he had a smouldering look to him that would have had girls swooning for him, if not for the dark black circles that had covered his eyes. He looked like a predator and Connie didn't trust him at all, but Harry seemed unconcerned by his appearance she she decided to leave the questions until later.

Connie heard her name called from behind her and she turned to find Kirmani running over to her. He still had his gun on him, but his was hanging in his hand loosely and Connie could see a thick cut across his forehead. He tried to hide his discomfort, but Connie quickly slapped his protesting hands away and forced him to sit on the edge of his car seat. They were both in authority mode right now, so after he slumped his shoulders in acceptance, he jumped straight to the point. That was how people were meant to act in an emergency. Not try and make jokes and banter on about faeries before finally getting to the point.

"Well Lieutenant, as you have already figured out by now," he glanced over at the bloody mess on the hood of her car, "we seem to be having a bit of a spider problem. They originally started coming out the middle of the street and attacking everyone but it seems something's holding them back right now."

"What was going on when you got here?"

Kirmani waved a hand at Harry, who was now whispering to Thomas and looking past the bus. "By the time we got here, Dresden was already on the bus with his Knight friend and the other one was cleavering his way through the horde of bugs. When the spiders began to turn on our car barricade, it seemed like they set off a bomb or something and now the spiders aren't moving anywhere."

They both turned to the bus as Harry's voice boomed over the crowd. "Right folks, your exterminator squad has come up with a quick and hopefully painless plan that we should probably tell you about. Who's the senior officer here?"

Everyone was to confused at the moment to ignore him, so eyes started scanning each other for someone to dump the responsibility onto. Kirmani had already figured it out and so had Connie. One by one, faces found and fell onto Connie and she mentally cursed her luck. Harry followed their lines of sight and his gaze settled on Connie. He became very cheerful that he found someone he could trust and he clapped his hands together.

"Wonderful, things are going to go a lot smoother now." He grinned hard and held out his hand for Connie. "You'll need to come up here Murph. You're going to want to see this."

very carefully, with only the briefest of hesitations, Connie walked over to the bus.

_Damn, damn, damn..._

She said over and over again in her head. Reaching up and grabbing his wrist (because she couldn't handle an intimate handshake right now), she abseiled up the side of the bus as Harry pulled her over the top. Hand on her shoulder, he brought her over to the side of the bus (which would actually be the side of the side of the bus) and pointed down the street. He really didn't need to point as it was very hard to miss. Only a dozen meters away, the road was filled with rows upon rows of spiders. Dark furry bodies clustered around each other and many climbed on top, purely Connie thinks, to have a perfect view to stare straight at the humans. In the background, she could make out a glowing circle in the middle of the street. Instinct dictated her action and Connie tried to take a step away, but Harry's hand kept a reassuring grip on her to calm her down.

"Don't worry about them for now, I've set up a ward to keep them back, but I can't hold it forever." Connie glared at him and he showed his hands to her with reason. "Look over at where they are if you don't believe me!"

Keeping a glare on him for a few seconds longer, she eventually turned and looked at where the spiders had stopped. Sure enough, she could make out a thin, blue sheet sprouting from a chalk line across the road that physically blocked them from moving. Bodies impacted against it constantly, but it only caused a brief spark of light and a dazed creature.

"Told you," he whispered into her ear, and she jumped slightly at the close contact. Connie took a step backwards and looked at Harry.

"You have thirty seconds to explain Dresden."

He stood straight back and saluted her before relaxing and leaning onto his stick and grinning at her. "Complicated explanations later, simple ones now." He looked over at the crowd of animals in front of them. "Never-ending army of spiders are coming out of that glowing portal in the middle of the street. For now, just think of it as a hole in the air. They injured a few civilians before rolling over this bus. Luckily, my evil, early-warning system," he thumb pointed to Michael who was still pulling kids out of the open doorway and passing them down, "notified me and me and my … friend Thomas, came to back him up." Connie noticed the pause but decided to leave it for another time. She still didn't trust this Thomas though. "So far, no-ones been hurt aside from a few over eager cops of yours but the spiders are still pretty dangerous." He finished his story and waited for Connie to pat him on the head for a job well done.

"Thank-you Dresden." Sometimes it was just easier to comply with him rather than argue. "I will want that complicated explanation later though."

He scowled at her, but they quickly turned their heads as they were interrupted by a third party. "Mum!" Michael was just lifting Anna out of the bus as her head swivelled and spotted Connie. He settled her down on the bus rather than pass her down. Connie quickly ran over to grab the sides of her bulky blue jacket and pulled her into a hug. She kissed Anna's forehead and long black curls like Connie's were brushed around and tickled her nose enough to finally break the embrace.

"Are you alright Anna? You're not hurt are you?" She quickly asked, already checking Anna for bruises or cuts.

Anna wildly shook her head. "I'm fine. I thought you told be that flame-throwers were illegal. How come Mr. Dresden gets one?" Connie looked over at Harry and he smiled without giving an answer as Anna continued, "Mr James had made us put on our seatbelts when the bus fell over, so we were mostly dizzy rather than hurt. A few people even threw up, but I didn't." She explained proudly. Trust children to focus on the little things.

Connie held Anna's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Well done Anna, but for now, your going to have to do exactly what I tell you to do, understand?" Anna noted her mothers serious tone and nodded her head. Connie glanced over to see Sid already standing by the bus with his arms held out. "I'm going to be passing you over to my partner Sid, he's going to take you down and over to the medics to make sure your alright, okay?" Anna nodded again and quickly hugged Connie before she was passed down and Sid took her over to the stationed ambulance where the other kids were. Connie carefully watched he until she went out of sight and then stood up to look at Harry. He was waiting patiently as he watched her and her daughters exchange. Michael had just finished pulling a teacher out, who Connie assumed was Mr. James and Thomas had been staring at his feet, uncomfortable with the intimacy in the air. Good.

"So what's the plan Dresden?"

Happy to be in the conversation again Harry piped up and began streaming details. "This is what going to happen. I can keep the ward up for now, but its hardly going to solve the immediate problem. Our primary goal is to close the gateway quickly before any more show up, but that will mean I will have to lower the ward and we'll need to go through them. They have basic weaknesses like any fleshy creature, but I recommend aiming for their legs or body as the front of their heads are mainly hardened bone. These spiders have a hive mind, so as soon as it's closed, they're bodies should all disintegrate and we'll all hopefully be no worse for wear." Michael and Thomas unanimously nodded and Connie had to pretend she was watching a sci-fi film in order to understand everything, but she thought she got the gist of it.

She carefully watched them all agree with each other before turning to Harry, "Dresden?" He focused on her, "Why are there arachnids the size of dogs in the middle of the city?"

From the face he pulled, it was as if she had just slapped him. "You're asking me this now? I come up with a brilliantly fiendish plan with the minimum of casualties and you want to know now where they came from?" She didn't humour him with an answer and stared at his face blankly while he combed his hand over his hair. "Listen Murph," he lowered his voice and leaned in towards her, "I promise I'll explain everything to you later, but right now, we're on a difficult time limit and I'm going to need you to trust me."

They all turned to her and she mulled over the consequences of putting her faith in Dresden's hands before she grudgingly accepted the plan. "I can get us cops to shoot the them, but there seem to be more spiders than we have bullets. I'm not sure if we'll even be able to get close to the centre."

Harry shook his head. "_You_ won't be going through them. We will."

"Hell no Dresden. Even if you and your buddies were expertly trained with those," she vaguely gestured to the swords and Harry's staff, "We don't send civilians into dangerous situations and I'm sorry to say that includes you."

Harry seemed very put off by this limitation and lightly grabbed Connie's arm. "Don't think of us as civilians. We're all experts with these matters and we've dealt with these before. Plus, Michael and Thomas are more than experts with the sword. Like you wouldn't believe and this staff has more uses than just hitting things."

Connie took a second to think about Harry's serious words. She was well aware that he had lied to and manipulated her in the past, but he had never let her down once. She could count on him to do the right thing, even if it usually is for the possibility of a pay-check.

She didn't like this one bit, but she grudgingly nodded to Harry and slowly turned around to walk towards the edge of the bus and look at the other cops waiting patiently for commands. She counted about ten of them.

_God, she felt stupid on top of the bus. I'm like a queen standing in front of her subjects._

Forcing away her embarrassment and scratching thoughts on Lord of the Rings out of her head, she addressed the crowd. "Okay, listen up because timing needs to be essential for this." The men and woman stood to attention. "I'm going to half of you to line up on each side of the street with your weapons drawn and ready. On my command, you are going to fire at will at the..." She didn't want to say this, "...giant spiders. If you have the opportunity too, shoot the abdomen, but otherwise, go for the eyes. Make sure you only shoot down the side of the road as a team will be moving through the middle. Do you all understand?" They all carefully looked at each others reactions and firmly nodded to Connie. If you can't trust your team leader, who can you trust?

As they all moved into position, Connie walked over to Harry who was beginning to lower himself down onto street level. On the dangerous side. Connie put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. His friends had already walked towards the 'ward' and were patiently waiting. "I hope you know what you're doing Harry."

He smiled at her and lay his hand on top of hers. "I'll be fine Connie. If I can survive on the abysmal fee you pay me, I can survive anything." He was very sure of himself and Connie smiled back as he jumped down onto the road and strolled over to the edge of the ward. He span his stick in one hand and shook his other arm, causing a bracelet to fell down onto his wrist.

Connie bent down onto one knee and aimed at the set of spiders closest to Harry. Michael stood straight with his sword held out in front of him and Thomas moved into a duelling position with his Rapier, his left foot standing behind him.

Harry took a deep breath and muttered a few words while exhaling. The air shuddered for a moment and there was an abrupt snap as the blue sheet disappeared.

* * *

To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

Thank-you to petros308 for helping me with the details

* * *

As soon as the ward snapped off, the spiders surged forward with unbridled hunger. Like waves in the sea rolling over each other, creatures at the front were quickly trampled over by the line behind them as they surged forward. Spiders far back pressed down on their powerful legs and launched themselves through the air in long arcs. Hundreds of dark eyes focused on their own targets and moved with fast but coordinated precision.

As soon as the barrier was lost and they made their move, Connie didn't even need to shout out a command for the police to know when to shoot. With a loud bang, a steady stream of bullets were fired from the row of pistols and impacted against the spiders bodies. Eyes exploded and flesh was ripped of bodies in large chunks, but the stream of gunfire remained steady and well aimed. They had been trained to react with reason in all circumstances and even giant insects wasn't about to send them to wasting all their bullets in just a few seconds and sending most of them to impact harmlessly against walls and cars.

From her position atop the bus, Connie could see over Harry's head and quickly decided she would play the part of backup. Though she just had a handgun, she had logged hours of practise with it and could hit a bullseye with it just as easily as with a rifle. She aimed carefully at the spiders approaching Harry and fired. The bullet careened through the air and passed Harry's head by mere centimetres. The spider in front of him was blown backwards as it was shot right between its many eyes and died immediately. Judging my his millisecond pause, she probably shocked him a little.

With space in front of him, the spiders reached Michael and Thomas first. Connie held her breath as their heavy bodies scuttled across the ground and jumped a short distance into the air to sink their fangs into flesh. With co-ordinated skill, Michael bellowed out a Latin phrase and drew his longsword back. Now with purpose in his stride, the sword gave off a strong white glow and pulsed as it sailed horizontally in front of him in a wide arc. Two spiders who had launched themselves up were immediately cut across the middle and disembowelled, their momentum redirected to send them flying through the air behind Michael and landing twitching on the ground. Without a pause in his step, he continued to walk forward and straight into battle, his sword in constant motion as it's unnatural light seemed to sear through bodies as they tried to leap onto him.

Unlike Michael's longsword, Thomas's Rapier lacked the weight behind its blows. As the first spider leapt towards him, he quickly sidestepped the jump with inhuman speed and struck his sword into its path. Without the ground to slow it down. Its lower body impacted the edge of the sword and kept moving as it cut a long gash into the spiders abdomen. Before it could even hit the ground, another spider had already leapt at Thomas's head, intending for a quick kill. He quickly dropped to the ground and rolled on his shoulder under the flying spider, thrusting upwards as he righted himself. There was a cry of pain as the blade pierced through the spiders underbelly and out again and it lost control of it actions, landing upside down behind Thomas and flailing wildly with its legs. Not even bothering to check that the creature was dead, Thomas stood up again and proceeded forward, sidestepping, ducking and even jumping over every attack that came at him, using his rapier for fast and clean deaths.

While they both had sharp instruments and experience behind them, all Harry had was his staff. Ignoring their dead companion, spiders had quickly jumped over their comrade that Connie had shot and moved quickly towards Harry, seemingly with more fury than the rest. Connie could tell from behind that he had tensed his shoulders up, but he patiently moved forward, all the while spinning his staff in his hand since he had jumped off the bus. Over the gunfire and Latin words, she could make out the faint whooshing sound in the air as his staff picked up speed. Though he was only holding it with one hand, the staff danced and twirled round his fingers at a steady pace and his other hand was unconsciously tapping away an unknown tune at his side. Ancient symbols on his staff began to glow white and Connie could swear small tendrils of light began to seep from them.

Hearing the whooshing sound, Michael and Thomas glanced at Harry to see what he was doing. Slicing away a few more spiders, they quickly rolled behind Harry as he suddenly grasped the edge of his staff and brought it slamming into the ground, eliciting a violent crack of thunder. Dust and concrete was blown into the air and winds whipped around the edge of Harry's staff. Spiders who were just about to leap upon Harry were suddenly impaled by blasted masonry and bowled over those that were protected by the body shields. A few creatures who and been leaping through the air were picked up by gale force winds and slammed into the sides of buildings.

Though Connie and the rest of the force were behind Harry, which somehow meant they were in the 'safe zone', they could still feel the effects of the blast. Men fell over themselves as the ground shook and Connie had the grasp on tightly to the edge of a rolled down window to keep herself from falling off the bus. It was only a few seconds of mayhem, but she still felt a wave of numb shock rolling over her as her brain tried to comprehend what has just happened. Either magic was real, or Harry had a concealed jack-hammer hidden on the end of his stick. Both were ridiculous explanations, but Connie felt that this was going to be a weird day anyway so for now, she decided to roll with the punches.

Repressing feelings of wonder, Connie turned back to Harry's team. What had once been a adequately flat street, was now a broken assortment of cracks and rubble. Harry and his friends stood in the centre of a small crater that had formed around him, wiping dust that had caked their hair and clothes. After coughing a few times, Harry looked up and grinned at Connie's surprised expression. He saluted her once again, bringing his hand to his wildly splayed hair and tapped his friends on the shoulders. Without wasting any time, they quickly broke into a run, scampering past the dazed bodies of the bugs, who were rapidly beginning to shake off their confusion.

"Keep up the gunfire!", Connie yelled behind her, as Harry broke into a run. She started aiming a firing again and soon enough, the police righted themselves and began shooting.

As Harry was now getting closer to the 'portal', when the spiders at the front of the line rolled the right way up and studied the distance to Harry and to the barricade, they made a purely instinctual decision and scuttled towards Connie. A bead of sweat rolled down Connie's forehead as the distance between her and the creatures slowly reduced. The wall of bullets managed to disable them pretty quickly, but she noticed many of the rounds were impacting harmlessly against the dead flesh while reinforcements behind them used the body shields to the max before leaping over and gaining more ground.

When Connie heard the horrifying click in her gun, signalling the lack of bullets, she quickly ejected the cartridge and reached for another clip. While doing so, she checked on Harry's progress.

Rather than making a beeline for the center, they seemed to be slowly curving towards the side of the street. Disembowelled spiders were flying left and right as Michael dispensed glowing justice. Thomas himself seemed to be covered in the spiders, but Connie couldn't see any wounds on him as he rolled through the gaps in their ranks, opting to disable his enemies and then move on. It was an efficient fighting style, but as Connie didn't like him, she mentally called it lazy.

Though Harry only had a stick, he seemed to be doing a bang up job by himself. She could only see his back and he hardly seemed to be moving his arms at all (he was also yelling a lot), but huge groups of spiders in front of him were being blasted into the air and leaving a clear space in front of him.

In unison, Michael and Thomas suddenly span round and covered Harry's back as they reached the pavement and stopped moving. A wall of spiders that had been following their progress rammed into them, but were skewered by their blades and thrown to the side. Harry focused his attention on the lamppost in front of him and pulled a small stick out of his duster. Angling it at the lamppost, the tip began to glow and there was a small explosion as the metal cover was ripped from its screws.

Connie prayed to god that he was doing something intelligent because the spiders had now closed in on the barricade and Connie was aware she only had a few rounds left. All around her, she could hear panicky breaths and an increasing amount of people calling for any spare rounds. Though the leg she was leaning on had gone numb and her other leg had broken into shakes, Connie kept her firing at a steady pace and made sure to count how many bullets she had left so she could quickly reload. She lost a bit of self-control as she looked over and saw Harry digging his hands into the lampposts circuitry.

In her peripheral vision, Connie saw thin, furry legs begin to creep over the side of the bus where she was sitting. Pulling a small knife from a holster on her ankle, she swiped at the legs and heard screeching cries as the dismembered limbs fell out of view.

_Two shots left..._

Finally Harry grasped a wire and brought his staff up in line with the portal. Ancient words of power muttered from his breath and the ground beneath him turned into tar. Connie decided to go for a head shot on a spider that had crawled onto the bus. At such a close range, the bullet smashed straight through the hardened forehead and sent it over the side.

_One shot left..._

A spider leaped through the air towards Connie and she quickly shot into its abdomen. Guts poured from the small hole as it cried out in pain and Connie had to leap to the side as it slammed into the spot were she'd been sitting, smashing the glass windows beneath it.

"THOMAS! MICHAEL! MOVE!" Harry shouted and his friends dispatched the immediate spiders in front of them before falling to his side.

Connie was now sprawled across the bus, covered in arachnid blood and she looked up to see a dozen bodies crawl into her view and towards her. She looked past the bodies to see Harry standing still and arm outstretched. Connie couldn't believe she put her trust into Harry's...

"**VENTAS...FULMINO...SOLVUS!"**

Arcs of blue lightning shot from Harry's hand and impacted into the side of the portal. All the street lights in the area suddenly glowed the brightest they've ever been and exploded, scattering glass onto the road beneath them.

The electric light spread that hit the portal and connected over the surface, locking the circle in a lightning prison. The air shimmered for a moment and Connie could suddenly See white tendrils emitting from the portal and disappearing into the backs of the creatures around her. As soon as the tendrils became opaque, Harry flicked his hand and the lightning spread from the portal and shot down the tendrils.

The spiders around Connie suddenly convulsed and spasmed as the lightning reached them. She could see their fanged mouths opening in wordless screams as they were electrocuted from the inside. Connie brought her small knife in front of her face for defence and slowly crawled backwards and away from the spiders.

After a brief period of time, on by one, the creatures exploded as their own muscles ripped them apart. Blood was sprayed all over Connie's head and she covered her face for protection.

Once the popping stopped, Connie and the rest of the investigations unit lifted their heads to scan the area. The entire road was now covered in a red gore. There were lines of steam coming up from where the spiders had been heavily concentrated and there was a sick stench of burning flesh in the air. There was no longer a bright light in the center, but instead a small crater.

In disbelief, Connie looked over at Harry and was met with his gaze and his fingers counting downwards.

_Three...two...one..._

Connie mouthed the words and when she reached zero, the stench was suddenly gone. The blood around her began to take on a translucesnt, navy effect and began to dissolve into the air. Connie noticed the disappearing stains on her clothes and brought her hair in front of her eyes to see that too become clean.

It was deathly silent and ridiculously clean all down the road as all faces looked towards Dresden and Co. standing in the middle of the road and congratulating each other. Eventually though, they noticed the stares and looked around them. Michael looked calm but tense, Harry was shaking from panic and Thomas looked unconcerned and bored as he wiped his clothes. Keeping their eyes on the people in front of them, they began whispering to each other. Harry began to grin as he listened to them and Connie took that as a bad sign as she stood up and glared directly at Harry.

Nodding to each other, Harry stepped forward and raised his hands into the air, all the while grinning madly at Connie as she stared at him.

He opened his mouth, "THE GUILD OF MAGICIANS SHALL RISE AGAIN!" With this completely random remark, he brought his hands forward and dropped something at his feet. Before Connie could run over and tackle him to the ground, the object beneath him exploded in a large puff of smoke. She and a few officers were already running over to him, but by the time they reached his position, the smoke had cleared and he and his friends were gone.

She wasn't sure she had ever been this annoyed with him.

* * *

_A short time later..._

_..._

Connie walked down the stairs to his apartment and buzzed the doorbell. After buzzing it a few more times and then realising it was broken, she knocked three times on the oak surface and waited. After writing reports for a few hours and checking over Anna, she had gone home with her to change into a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. The blood looked gone, but she still wasn't sure. She then arranged for her mother to take care of Anna for a bit while she was out

She heard a few mutterings from the other side of the door and a rattling chain before the door swung open and Dresden stood before her. He still had a black shirt and trousers on, but Connie could see his duster hanging by the side of the door. He inhaled as he recognized her. "Murphy," he acknowledged.

"Dresden," she replied.

There was a few moments of silence between them as Connie waited for him to talk, but seeing he had no desire to start the conversation, she went first.

"Harry, you promised you'd tell me everything after this was done, so here I am.

Dresden exhaled in defeat. He had been hoping that she would have forgotten that little side note, but he supposed there wasn't much use trying to hide stuff now. Seeing his look, Connie made a move to step forward into his place but he stopped her by pressing his hand against her shoulders. She looked to the hand and then to his face, being met with a neutral expression that was obviously trying to hide his grin.

"First of all Connie, tell me what they said."

She glared at him and whined, "Do I have too?"

"Yes."

Glaring at him for a bit longer, she then looked down at her feet and closed her eyes. "The official report is that the entire event was one big publicity stunt by the..." she shivered, "...by the Guild of Magicians in order to promote their upcoming shows."

"And the spiders?"

Connie looked back up into his eyes. "There was a massive gas leak along the road and subtle implying by the Magicians had us all hallucinating spiders were attacking."

Harry took a step back and pressed his hand against his chest. "What! But wasn't there any CCTV footage or bodies to prove your story?"

"Funny that. About the same time the gas line burst and the Magicians showed up, every camera in the area suddenly broke down or blew up. And you know very well why there weren't any bodies!""

"But what about..."

"I SWEAR TO GOD Dresden..."

"All right, all right. I'll stop." He brought his arm over her head and rested it on her shoulder, leading her into the apartment. "But your going to want to sit down for this."

* * *

To be continued

_Side note:_

I'm only going on a whim here and have no knowledge of the Chicago Police system. I would appreciate advice on how to improve bits related to that.


	4. Chapter 4

Many months later...

* * *

"You know, you never did tell me where those spiders came from."

Harry looked up from his workbench and across the assorted potions and alchemical ingredients and into Connie's eyes with a baffled look. "Spiders?" he said bluntly.

Connie glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. The edges of one of Harry's shirts hung loosely from her arms, even when she held them out in front of her, so she had to roll them up to the elbow. Her hair was still a little wet from the shower, so it hung long and loose over her shoulders.

They had just gotten back from the Chicago Museum after Dresden the Wizard had been called over to dispatch a group of faeries that had broken in and were reeking havoc. After he deemed them low rank creatures, he asked Connie over to take pot shots at them as they were fast enough to dodge most of Harry's spells. After he destroyed a third vase, the manager had asked him to call someone with a much better accuracy.

Connie had arrived quickly and easily managed to take down the faeries, but what Harry had neglected to tell her was that big bullets and small targets made for particularly large explosions. She had been packing a magnum and its results had them covered in ectoplasm. Though Harry insisted that the gooey substance had completely disappeared, she still insisted that nothing less that a shower and washed clothes would convince her.

After donning one of Harry's shirts and throwing all of her clothes into the laundry, she came down the basement into Harry's lab and seated herself on the edge of a table. He did most of his magical work in the cellar beneath his house, so the windowless room was covered with tables, books and candles. She's never admit it to him, but to this day, Connie was still fascinated with Harry's magical life and could sit for hours watching him brew a spell or potion. Currently though, she felt he needed to be punished and nothing creates despair in Harry Dresden like asking him to tell the truth. Granted he had gotten more open as their relationship grew.

"You know what spiders I'm talking about Harry."

He rested his chin onto his hand and stared up at the ceiling, "There have been many spiders since we met each other. I once tried making notches in a door frame to keep track of them, but the knife I was using went blunt and I had to throw it away." He leaned back in the chair he was sitting on and put his hands behind his head. As expected, he was wearing plain jeans and a black shirt but had put on a frayed white lab coat that he saved for when he went into his basement.

Connie lightened her tone and leaned back against the wall, letting the shirt ride up her leg just a little, "You know, the first spiders we ever fought together. When you helped save Anna."

"Yeah, I never could resist helping that girl." Once the barriers between Connie and Harry had fallen down, she allowed him to come to their house and get to know her daughter. Connie was pleased that Harry was so good with Anna, and he was a lot more relaxed around her than most strangers, probably because Anna was praising him for his efforts to help when her bus fell over, rather than questioning his actions while doing so. Harry leaned back onto his desk and looked at Connie, smiling as he eyed her leg "And I'm pretty sure I explained everything just a few hours later. You'd have put me in an arm lock if I left anything out and trust me, I remember what those feel like."

Noticing his wandering eyes, Connie smirked and jumped down from the desk. She walked over to the other side of Harry's workbench and sat in the chair opposite him earning a disappointed grunt from him.

After a brief staring match which Harry lost due to a collapsed attention span, he grunted on defeat. They had already soulgazed during their first time out together accidentally after Harry forgot all forms of protocol and stared into Connie's eyes. Suffice to say, she was very surprised and he had to explain things to calm her down as she was beginning to look for possible culprits and reach for her gun. He wasn't happy she brought a gun with her, but it still earned him a long kiss at the end of the night. Soulgaze or not though, Harry still didn't have enough practice looking into peoples eyes. Also, Connie could stare down a charging rhino.

Connie noticed his defeated gaze and inwardly celebrated her victory. "No, you told me all about the magical world and the magical people, plus an all manner of creatures from Ghouls to Vampires, thank you for the nightmares..."

"You were the one that asked about the creepies!"

She halted him with her hand, "...but you seemed to forget to tell be about those spiders."

"Give me a little credit though. You asked me to explain every little bit of knowledge that I have passively known since I was ten," he replied, "And you used plenty of your free time to ask me questions about it. Not my fault you didn't ask the right ones. It felt like I was lecturing a sugar enriched child." Harry noticed small waves of anger seeping from her eyes and straightened up. "But one of those prodigy children who build steam engines and go to Harvard before they're even teenagers and...and eat **low fat** sugar..." he began muttering to himself.

He was off in his own little world for a while before he noticed arms wrapping around his neck and Connie sitting sideways on his lap and looking at him.

"Hi Harry."

He blinked and evaluated his options, carefully weighing pro's and con's before coming up with a sound conclusion and a list of actions and dialogue to use.

"All right, I'll tell you," he said almost immediately, wrapping his own arms around Connie's waist and making use of the spinning chair he had rescued/stolen from Connie's office, by gently turning it from side to side with his feet.

She leaned and rested on his shoulder as he started talking. "Well, those particular spiders were wild-fae from the Nevernever. Do you remember what that means?"

Connie hit him in the stomach and he convulsed. "I still haven't forgiven you for that child comment. The wild-fae are faerie that aren't aligned to either Summer or Winter court."

Harry patted her on the head and she clobbered him again, this time causing a startled cough to emit from him, partly from pain and partly from laughter. "Well done," he coughed, "Unlike normal spiders who think independently..."

"...and aren't the size of large dogs..."

"...and aren't the size of large dogs," Harry acknowledged, "these spiders were controlled by a hive mind so they were in constant communication with each other."

Connie thought for a moment. "Is that what those tendrils I saw coming out of the portal were? A hive mind?"

Harry beamed at her and kissed her forehead. "See? You're getting the hang of figuring out this magical lark. Extra points for using the right lingo as well."

She sighed and closed her eyes, snuggling a little deeper into Harry's shoulder. It was childish, but the warmth emanating from his chest and the gentle swaying of the chair was a very peaceful position for Connie right now. "But why were they in the human world in the first place?"

The swaying stopped and Harry breathed in a panicked breath. In response, Connie's eyes opened and looked at Harry, as he suddenly found a split in the side of the chair to be the most interesting thing in the world.

"Dresden?" He twitched at her commanding tone.

"Dresden, what did you do?" He began to franticly pick at the split.

He began to mutter. "Promise you won't blow this out of proportion."

Connie grabbed his hand and forced him to look at her. "Harry, stop destroying my chair and tell me what happened."

He glared at her and didn't speak until after a few seconds. "The White Council put a hit out on me."

For the least part, Connie was shocked and very confused. The hands around him tightened and Harry winced a little. "What?"

"You have to understand," he hastily replied, "It was only for a couple a days and there were extenuating circumstances."

Connie unhooked her arms, leaned back against the desk and closed her eyes. "So these wild-fae took up the hit and tried to kill you. What kind of reward would they want?"

"Well as it turns out, the Council didn't really need an incentive. I was told later that as soon as I was declared rogue, they had a flood of applicants who wanted to take me on. I suppose I should feel honoured."

She punched him in the stomach again. "Ow, stop hitting me."

She continued the questioning. "Don't you still work for the White Council? Why would they declare you rogue?"

"It wasn't really their fault, you should have seen the stack of evidence against me. Even I had trouble believing I was innocent. It was all faked of course and it only took a few days and some narrow misses before people started noticing the forgeries."

Connie started rubbing her forehead. "So for two days, powerful people and creatures were trying to kill you, not because they wanted money or anything, but just because they don't like you?" Harry nodded. "So why did spiders appear in the middle of the street?"

Tightening his grip on her waist, he guided Connie back into his shoulder and she stubbornly leant in. "There's a reason why spiders fall into bathtubs. They're stupid. They've got no idea how to navigate Chicago, so they just opened a way into the city in a random location to find me. Even with a hive mind of thousands, they still only have the intelligence of a child, way dumber than prodigy children like yourself."

Connie smiled and they stayed in that position for a few moments until she looked up into Harry's eyes. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Yeah, me too." He smiled back at her. "That day was a good turning point for us."

They both closed the distance and slowly kissed each other. Connie slid her hand over the back of his head and Harry carefully rubbed her sides. Soon, their mouths granted entrance and their tongues danced between each other.

Just before they passed the point of no return and Harry began to slide his hands under her (his) shirt, Connie pulled away from him, unclasping his hands around her and jumped off his lap.

She looked back at him. "Just give me one second." Harry made a whining sound and tried to make a grab for her, but she quickly scurried round the table and towards the back of the basement, where a large shelf was hanging. Ignoring the selection of Romance/Erotic novels, Connie grabbed the skull and ran towards the stairs that would lead into Harry's living room.

"DAMMIT you guys, you never let me sit and watch! I'm going to boo or anything!" Bob yelled as Connie opened the trapdoor out.

Connie brought the skull to eye level. "Not now and not ever." She bluntly said and threw Bob out and over the couch.

"You shouldn't feel uncomfortable because technically I'm not even alive!" She heard him shout as she closed the door back and skipped back down the stairs

Harry was still sitting where she left him. "I have never found you more attractive than when you're throwing people across a room." he told her huskily.

Not replying, Connie slipped the shirt over her head and jumped back onto his lap. There was an almighty creak as the chair beneath them suddenly realised it was going to collapse in a minute.

* * *

The End


End file.
